■ IB. 



THE WAR 



AN ADDRESS BY 



BRECKINRIDGE LONG 

THIRD ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE 



''' S8 ^ 



BEFORE THE CITY CLUB 



ST. LOUIS. JANUARY 19. 1918 




:J] 5-qo 

T'COlTGRESSj 



THE WAR. 

The times in which we live, and the circumstances 
which surround us, are epoch-making. The great war 
in which we are engaged is not only a military strug- 
gle, as most of the armed conflicts in history have 
been, but is a struggle in which all the resources of 
the countries involved, the military, naval, financial, 
mineral, agricultural, scientific, industrial and eco- 
nomic forces are marshaled and pitted against one 
another. Not only have the resources of the belliger- 
ents become involved, but the products of neutrals 
figure in the computation of the powers at war. 

After the President had appeared before the Con- 
gress and had suggested that all the resources of this 
great country be pledged for the successful prosecu- 
tion of the struggle which it then became apparent 
we could no longer remain neutral toward, the Con- 
gress with a free hand, with a convincing generosity, 
pledged all the resources of the most resourceful coun- 
try on earth. The obligation was to furnish arms, 
munitions, food, clothing, money, which necessarily 
implies all the labor that is necessary to produce it, 
and all the capital necessar>^ to finance it, in addition 
to the men actually under arms. It further contem- 
plates the furnishing of aid to our co-belligerents. 

The action met the hearty, almost unanimous ap- 
proxal find co-operation of the country, and both the 
action and the ap])r()\al wit1i wliicli it met are most 



— 2 — 

significant, for men do not stake their all on causes 
in which they do not fully believe. The manner in 
which our countrymen have acted indicates the depth 
of our conviction and the righteousness in which they 
hold our cause. 

One of the most remarkable phenomena in all his- 
tory, if not the most remarkable, was the change in 
the attitude of the people of this country toward the 
war. In November, 1916, they were satisfied that we 
could rely upon the good faith of Germany and could 
settle by negotiation the differences which existed be- 
tween us. By February, 1917, we were convinced 
there was no good faith in the Imperial German Gov- 
ernment. We then realized that all the time during 
which we had honorably and peaceably tried to elicit 
from Germany a recognition of the rights of Ameri- 
can citizens, she was dishonorably carrying on the 
negotiations to kill time and was secretly preparing 
to wage a submarine campaign of increased intensity 
in utter disregard of humanity, of the laws of nations 
in general and of the rights of Americans in partic- 
ular. We had heard much of German perfidy, but it 
had not been brought home to us directly. We had 
seen poor little Belgium crushed under the Prussian 
heel because she opposed a wrongful invasion, her 
homes d.estroyed, her women raped, her children mu- 
tilated and her men deported for enforced labor like 
the galley slaves of old. We had seen the violated 
neutrality of little Luxembourg, that which, like Bel- 
gium's, had been guaranteed by sacred treaty by 
Germany. 

We had seen little Serbia trampled upon and abso- 
lutely obliterated, as a country, from the map, be- 
cause of the territorial greed of the Central Powers. 

We had seen unprepared and unsuspecting, but 



— 3 — 

valiant France invaded by a foe wliicli we now fully 
realize practiced the barbarities of the Hun of old 
in his victorious advance. Thank God, his progress 
was blocked by the battle of the Mame, and that he 
is being little by little forced from the ground so 
treacherously taken. 

We had seen these things, but they had not been 
brought home. We had heard, but we did not fully 
realize then nor how we were interwoven w4th the 
destinies of the world. Nor did we really appreciate 
that the national dishonesty of the Prussian Autoc- 
racy, their pei^fidy, their brutality, their subordination 
of righteousness and honor to material ambition, 
which has been so clearly demonstrated to their ene- 
mies in Europe, was being manifested to us under the 
guise of diplomatic negotiation. 

Less than a year ago, on the afternoon of the thirty- 
first of January, 1917, the Government of the United 
States was advised by Germany that that very night, 
at midnight, she would commence an unrestricted sub- 
marine warfare, in ^■iolation of all rules of interna- 
tional law, in defiance of all history, but that of their 
own brutal ancestors, in contravention of the just 
claims of humanity, and in flagrant failure to differ- 
entiate between the liability of araied forces and the 
rights of peaceable women and children. That after- 
noon the die was cast — and Germany cast it. 

But almost immediately following it, the temper of 
the American people was roused to the last degree by 
the announcement of the Zimmerman note to Mexico, 
w^hich disclosed the military intrigue of the Imperial 
German Government wdth one of our neighbors, at 
a time when we were all on friendly tenns, even pro- 
posing to give to Mexico part of the territory of the 
United States. 



Then the absohite dishonesty, the ])evfidy of the 
powers that be in Germany became aj -parent to the 
most incredulous. Since then, the story has been one 
continuous succession of acts of dishonesty, double 
dealing and crookedness. It is too long to relate in 
detail, and unnecessary to repeat the shameful tale 
of intrigue and machination. It is sufficient to say 
that the authority of the Imperial German Govern- 
ment as now centralized, and the powers by it exer- 
cised, were proved such as to be antagonistic to the 
peaceful pursuits of man, subversive of the ideals of 
humanity, and destructive of practices and prospects 
which two thousand years of Christianity have made 
possible. 

The stakes could not be greater. We are the de- 
fenders of all posterity and the guardians of the honor 
of the future. 

To accomplish the objects we set our minds upon, 
an euonnous organization has been created and is still 
being increased. It must be all inclusive and must 
have, not only tlie man power and woman power, but 
the will power of the entire country. We must all 
not only help, but want to help. 

The executive departments in Washington and the 
extraordinary boards and commissions which have 
been created to meet the exigencies of an immeas- 
urable undertaking have done an immense amount of 
work. There pro1)ably have been some mistakes. The 
men would not be human if there have not been some, 
but what we want is a human organization, the best 
and most effective machine humanity will allow, but 
human, nevertheless, and, in that respect, not like the 
cold, hard, material, calculating selfishness which 
characterizes the machine under the domination of 
Prussia. 



— D — 

There is no way an adequate conception can be 
given of the amount of work which has been done in 
building this organization and preparing for the 
struggle. We are too close to it and too much a part 
of it to appreciate it and see it in its proper pro- 
portions. As the years roll by and the future per- 
mits a point of view at sufficient distance to give a 
retrospect, the work done and the things accom- 
plished by the United States during 1917 will stand 
in their real light and will amaze us. 

The greatest part of it has fallen on the Prosid(nit 
and four executive departments, those of State, War, 
Navy and Treasury. Let me give you just a few 
figures to indicate something of the enormity of their 
work. 

The War Department, less than a year ago, re- 
ported an army of about 127,600 officers and men in- 
cluded. The last day of 1917 there were 110,856 offi- 
cers and 1,428,650 men — an army six times as great 
as was ours in the Spanish War. To support this 
army. Congress has appropriated for the fiscal year 
we are now in, $7,527,338,716.00 as compared with 
$403,000,000 for the year ending last June, and as 
compared with $203,000,000 for the year previous. 
This is a sum nearly double the total operating reve- 
nues of all the railroads in the United States for the 
year 1917. This great sum has been either disbursed 
or contracted for disbursement and there has been 
not a single whisper or suspicion of dishonesty or 
graft in connection with any part of the amount. The 
Ordnance Division of the War Department alone oc- 
cupies fourteen acres of floor space for office work 
and has an office force of nearly 30,000 persons. That 
is just a sample of what the Department is doing. 
The experts may disagree among tliemselvos as to the 



— 6 — 

propriety or impropriety of certain acts, but the fact 
remains that we have an army of moi'e than a million 
and a half, practically every man is fully uniformed 
and accoutred and there is a gun for every man who 
is in a position to use it — and then some. 

The Navy Department shows a proportional in- 
crease — from 68,000 enlisted men in January, 1917, to 
a total naval establishment of more than 350,000 men. 
A year ago its monthly expenditures were $8,000,000. 
Now they are about $60,000,000. A year ago it had 
300 vessels in commission. Now there are many more 
than a thousand. And be it said, to its infinite credit, 
that it has helped in the transportation of and has 
guarded the thousands of men we have sent abroad 
and has landed every one fafely on the other side. 

The Treasury Department, with the enormous re- 
sponsibility of allocating arid disbiirsiHg', not millions, 
but billions, and its wojk .j.i;i£cessarily precedent 
thereto, gathering in the money before it could be dis- 
bursed, has had an enormous undertaking, unprece- 
dented, and has successfully executed it. 

The Department of State, as you can well imagine, 
has had its work increased hundreds of per cent, both 
in importance and in amount, and has had to increase 
its forces at home and abroad enormously. 

The other departments and the extraordinary 
boards and commissions are just as busy. But they 
are all under the direction and guidance of that 
spokesman of humanity who sits in the White House 
and who has so recently set out the objects it would 
be necessary to ol)tain in order to secure peace. His 
is the real and final responsibility for which he will 
account to the people. 

In a masterful way the President has defined the 
CMnditions which can lead to yieace, and which we 



— 7 — 

hold as our objects for attainment. Of the fourteen 
which he enumerated, there is not one which applies 
particularly to America, or which holds any special 
or selfish gain for America. That alone is indicative 
of the magnanimous and unselfish spirit of the coun- 
try. It is not territory, or advantages of any kind, 
for which we fight, but for principles, in defense of 
the rights of America and Americans, and to insure 
to all posterity an opportunity for peaceable growth 
and autonomous government, as each nation for itself 
may choose. America is convinced of the righteous- 
ness of her cause. Her ideals are those of honesty, 
liberty and justice. Tliey are diametrically opposed 
to the perfidy, duplicity, barbarity and imperialism of 
the German Government as at present administered. 

I wish I could translate some of tlie thoughts and 
sentiments of Washington, could convey to your 
minds something of that determination which is there 
felt. There is neither optimism nor pessimism, just 
calm, clear, scrutinizing confidence in the outcome, 
founded on a grim determination that the welfare of 
the United States of America can only continue and 
the peace of the world can only be resumed when 
power is divested from the centralized irresponsi- 
bility of the Prussian military circle. 

But to make that determination more effective, to 
hasten the end, the mental, moral and physical co- 
operation of every individual is necessary. By those 
who are not a part of the armed forces, the practice 
of self-abnegation is necessary. Each can do his part 
to conserve such of our resources as comes within his 
control — the food, the fuel, the clothing; each by his 
mental attitude can help and encourage those who are 
charged with the more active administration of the 



— 8 — 

necessary affairs; each can abstain from criticism 
until he knows all the facts, and then can criticize in 
a way that will help, rather than in a way that will 
interfere with, the proper working of the whole or- 
ganization. He who maliciously criticizes is an enemy 
to this country, and he who thoughtlessly does so is 
as harmful as an enemy. 

All of our resources have been pledged, and it is 
necessary that steps be taken to make them all avail- 
able for the main purpose. The youth and vigor of 
the country have been drafted to furnish the quota to 
carry the guns and do the actual fighting — and a 
finer, nobler lot of men never were assembled than 
today are ready to die for the honor of the Stars and 
Stripes ; capital has been called upon to furnish the 
railroads; natural resources have been controlled in 
that coal has been denied for certain purposes for a 
certain time. Today no one can tell what additional 
deprivations may be necessary, to what extremes we 
shall have to go. Only one thing is certain, and that 
is, whatever shall be necessary to do, that we will do. 
/ Washington requested that his sword, once 
sheathed, be not again unsheathed except in the cause 
of righteousness, but when for that unsheathed, that 
it be not again sheathed until the object was accom- 
plished. America's army today is as Washington's 
sword, and will not be disbanded until the objects 
which America has announced are attained, until the 
Star Spangled Banner from the battlements of 
Europe shall proclaim for all time that military au- 
tocracy and imperialism are removed from the face 
of Europe and that the world is safe for democracy. 



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